Three hours for next community talks

LODDON communities will be given three hours to ask questions on VNI West.

Transmission Company Victoria, the new AEMO entity formed for the renewable energy transmission line project, has announced the first of five community consultation sessions will be in Boort early next month, The session will come as TCV moves from the current Option

5A area of interest up to 50km wide is to be narrowed to preferred corridor of 500 metres to 1000 metres by July.

“Information from environmental surveys will help to further refine the route to an easement of around 70 to 120 metres by 2025.”

Other consultation sessions will be in Kerang, Charlton, Navarre and St Arnaud.

Outcomes of May meeting

Quarterly reports for Local Laws and Planning Compliance and Road Management Plan Defect Recti cation Compliance were received and noted by Council at its May Council meeting.

As outlined in the Road Management Plan (RMP) Defect Recti cation Compliance report, Council’s road network is continuing to be assessed for ood damage with two roads still closed.

In accordance with Council’s RMP, on 18 October 2022 the Plan was suspended under the exceptional circumstances clause as it was it taking longer than usual for issues to be xed on Council’s road network due to the ood damage.

Routine maintenance inspections, previously on hold so sta could gather information for ood damage repair funding, have now resumed. The extent of the impact on Council’s ability to return to normal levels of road maintenance is still being assessed. In the meantime Council will maintain the network as safe as reasonably possible given the circumstances. At the meeting, Council also: z Approved the Audit and Risk Committee Charter 2023-2025. z Authorised the Chief Executive O cer to enter into a new Service and Funding Agreement with the Gold elds Library Corporation. z Received and noted three Audit and Risk Committee documentsAnnual Performance Assessment (Survey) Report 2022-2023, Biannual Report May 2023, and 1 May 2023 meeting Minutes.

“A series of booths will provide information on a range of key topics such as farming and bushfire risk,” says TCV. z More than 500 submissions received by AEMO to the previous Option 5 consultation have been released on its website. Among local groups to make submissions were Loddon Shire, Loddon Plains Landcare and Wedderburn Conservation Management.

VNI West could run through three adjoining shires. This has been their reaction since release of the new Option 5A route

Northern Grampians: Council says it is appalled that widespread community opposition has had no material impact on AEMO final preferred route.

Mayor Kevin Erwin said he was astonished at the brazen disregard for community views following the publication over the weekend of the preferred corridor for the project.

“This community have spoken up often and spoken up loudly since the proposal was first announced in February,” Cr Erwin said.

“AEMO’s own report notes that 53 per cent of the total individual submissions received were from farming communities within the Northern Grampians Shire.

“Of those submissions, the majority are outright opposed to the project on the basis it will have an irreversible and detrimental impact on their homes and businesses and this cost will be generational.

Gannawarra: Council has welcomed a proposed realignment of the VNI West route, which would involve constructing new high capacity electricity transmission lines that will pass through the Gannawarra.

“Council, along with the Murray River Group of Councils, has been advocating for VNI West to pass through the Gannawarra, and we have been promoting the benefits of these works to our residents for the past six years,” Mayor Charlie Gillingham said.

“VNI West will set up Northern Victoria as the nation’s largest renewable energy zone and will secure the Gannawarra’s economic sustainability.

“VNI West is also important to Victoria’s energy network. With coal-fired electricity sources to be phased out by 2035, renewable energy projects and connecting eastern Australia’s electricity networks will be key to Victorian homes and businesses being able to access electricity.”

“Council has worked with landowners and investors during the past decade regarding renewable energy projects within the Gannawarra, many of which cannot proceed without the development of VNI West.

“There are many landowners around Kerang and the western part of the Gannawarra Shire who are working on developing renewable energy projects, as they realise that energy infrastructure and agricultural practices can co-exist,” Council’s Executive Manager Economic Development, Roger Griffiths said.

Buloke: No statement has been issued by the shire council and it did not make a submission during consultation. Buloke has previously criticised the consultation process.